Sitting Days

Please note that "sitting days" reflects, for each Senator, the actual number of Senate sittings while a Senator is a member of the Senate.

Present and Attending to Senate Business

Senators who participate in any of the following activities on sitting days are deemed to be “present and attending to Senate business”.

1. attendance at a sitting of the Senate
2. attendance at a committee meeting, authorized by the Senate to sit within the National Capital Region during the sitting of the Senate. In such situations, the committee meeting must actually take place over the entire time that the Senate is sitting in order for attendance at the committee meeting to be considered “attendance to business.”
3. attendance at a meeting of a Senate committee, authorized by the Senate to sit outside the National Capital Region on that day or to be on travel status on that day.
4. participation in a delegation of a recognized parliamentary association that is conducting its business outside the National Capital Region on a sitting day or is on travel status for that day.
5. conducting “official business” outside the National Capital Region on a sitting day, or being on travel status for that day.
   1. Official business is defined as an activity that takes place outside the NCR on a sitting day that has specifically been authorized by the Senate or a Senate committee such as a committee fact-finding mission or conference, or requested in writing by a Minister of the Crown. It also includes participation in a Speaker’s Delegation outside the NCR.

Other Public Business (Sitting Days)

Senators can be engaged in “public business” on both sitting days and non-sitting days. Please note, this number does not necessarily reflect the total number of days a Senator was on other public business. This number reflects only the number of times a Senator was unable to attend a sitting of the Senate because they were on other public business.

1. on non-sitting days, all activities carried out by a senator in that official capacity, which are not related to the senator’s private (marital, family, social, etc.) concerns, are considered “public business”;
2. on sitting days, any activity which a senator carries out in that official capacity that is not related to the senator’s private concerns and which does not fall under the meaning of “attendance to business” is considered “public business”; and
3. participation in the work of a parliamentary friendship group is always considered “public business.”

Leave

Senators are allotted 21 leave days at the start of each session.

The Parliament of Canada Act, provides for a deduction “from the sessional allowance of a member of either House of Parliament for every day beyond 21” on which the member is deemed to be in “non-attendance.” In accordance with Rule 15-1(3) of the Rules of the Senate, deductions are in the amount of $250 per day of non-attendance in the Senate.

“Senators’ Attendance and Activities on Sitting Days” reflects only attendance on sitting days. The detailed Senators Attendance Register, prepared in accordance with the Senate Attendance Policy, may be consulted by selecting the individual senator followed by the month.